Animals in Translation

by Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures, and Catherine Johnson

WHO IS TEMPLE GRANDIN?

Ten years ago, Oliver Sacks wrote a profile for The New Yorker about an extraordinary woman whose triumph over her developmental disorder was profound but who still felt completely alienated from human emotion and interaction. With people, she said, she is a self proclaimed "anthropologist on Mars," a phrase Sacks adopted for the title of his bestselling collection. Among animals, however, she is completely at home.

Besides being autistic, Temple Grandin earned her Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Illinois; went on to become an associate professor at Colorado State University; and wrote two books on autism, including the seminal Thinking in Pictures. When Dustin Hoffman went to research his role in Rain Man, Temple was the person he contacted.

One of the most celebrated and effective animal advocates on the planet, Grandin revolutionized animal movement systems and spearheaded reform of the quality of life and humaneness of death for the cows, pigs, and chickens that Americans eat. Through Grandin Livestock Systems, she works with the country's fast food purveyors-McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendys, and Burger Kingm to monitor the conditions of animal facilities worldwide.

Temple Grandin is a towering figure for our times. She has devoted the last 30 years to studying animals and making their lives better, has been profiled everywhere everywhere from 48 Hours to The New York Times, is a sought-after speaker on autism and animal rights, and is considered one of the world's leading academic theoreticians in her field.

Temple Grandin has redefined society's perception of what is possible for autistics.

What are her often controversial theories?

Animals in Translation ...

redefines consciousness and argues that language is not a requirement for consciousness

categorizes autism as a way station on the road from animals to humans

explores the "Interpreter" in the normal human brain that filters out detail, creating an
unintentional blindness that animals and autistics do not suffer from

applies the autism theory of "hyper-specificity' to animals, meaning that there is no
forest, only trees, trees, and more trees

argues that the single worst thing you can do to an animal is make it feel afraid

examines how humans and animals use their emotions, including to predict the future

compares animals to autistic savants, in fact declaring that animals may be autistic
savants, with special forms of genius that normal people cannot see

explains that most animals have "super-human" skills: animals have animal genius

reveals the abilities handicapped people, and animals, have that normal people don't

How is Animals in Translation different from every other animal book ever published?

Animals in Translation is like no other animal book because of Temple Grandin. As an animal
scientist and a person with autism, her professional training and personal history have created
a perspective like no other thinker in the field, and this is her exciting, groundbreaking view
of the intersection of autism and animal.

Unlike other well-known writers in the field of animal behavior -- When Elephants Weep by
psychoanalyst Jeffrey Moussaleff Masson, How Dogs Think by psychologist and dog trainer
Stanley Coren, and The Hidden Life of Dogs by anthropologist Elizabeth Marsha Thomas -- Temple Grandin
is an animal scientist who has devoted the last 30 years of her life to the study
of animals. Animals in Translation is the culmination of that life's work -- a book whose sweep
is huge, including just about anything that gallops, trots, slithers, walks, or flies.

Temple Grandin is like no other author on the subject of animals because of her training and because
of her autism; understanding animals is in her blood and her bones.